2013 Baseball

Niermann named First Team All-Region

Kyle Niermann named First team All-Mideast Region by ABCA/Rawlings

BLUFFTON, Ohio - Bluffton senior Kyle Niermann (Napoloeon) capped off his superb career at Bluffton University by being named First
Team All-Mideast Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association. He was one of
seven Heartland Conference baseball players to be honored, including five on the First
Team. Manchester skipper Rick Espeset, who led Manchester to the Division III World Series,
was tabbed as Coach of the Year for the region. Niermann was also recognized as All-Region
by D3baseball.com following his final season as a Beaver. A First Team Heartland Conference
selection for the past three seasons, Niermann was named Second Team All-Mideast Region
by the ABCA as a junior.

Leading the HCAC and coming in 12th all-time at Bluffton with a blistering .438 batting
average, Kyle Niermann leaves an indelible impression on the record books and baseball
program following his storied career with the Beavers. He led the Beavers to 19, 19
and 21 wins which all set or matched the school record for victories in his final
three seasons at Bluffton. His school-record 71 hits place him sixth in the country
and the top five have all played more games than Niermann. He is the only Beaver to
put together three seasons of at least 60 hits. Niermann's 37 runs scored, 15 doubles
and 90 total bases all place him in the top 10 for a single season. The dean of Bluffton
hitting fanned just seven times this season in over 180 plate appearances, or less
than four percent of the time.

Niermann became Bluffton's most prolific hitter midway through his final campaign
and never slowed down, pushing the school record for hits to 248 and dropping 2012
graduate Tyler Stephenson (215) to #2 all-time, just one season after he went around
Brad Buckingham and Tony Moore who shared the mark with 168 safeties. His .391 career
average is seventh all-time while his .535 slugging percentage places him 13th. He
finished his career in the top five all-time for games played (146), games started
(145), at bats (634), runs scored (142), doubles (49), triples (9), RBI (118), total
bases (339). His at bats and total bases are tops all-time for the Beavers. Niermann
was also outstanding on the bases and in the field. His 25 stolen bases are seventh
all-time, while his .988 fielding percentage tied him for 11th all-time.

Bluffton crossed the 20-win barrier with a 21-18 mark for the most victories in school
history following a season that saw the Beavers complete their first-ever sweep of
Mount St. Joseph and win their first Heartland Conference series with Rose-Hulman
since the Engineers joined the HCAC in 2006-07. The Beavers just missed out on their
first-ever trip to the Heartland Conference tournament while earning series victories
over four HCAC teams in 2013.